Thursday, May 20, 2010

Even though both teams will be playing each other again tomorrow night in the Memorial Cup Semifinal. The Calgary Hitmen sent a clear message that they intend to knockout the tournament host and move to Sunday's Final to play the Windsor Spitfires for the Memorial Cup Title.

All the goals came in the first period as Kris Foucault (2G 2A), and Justin Bubnick (1G 3A) both had 4 point nights and moved up to 1 & 3 in the Memorial Cup Scoring Leads with a 5-1 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings.

As early as 3 and a half minutes into the game it was looking like it would be a burn burner as Foucault got the Hitmen scoring going just 3:15 into the game. However, just 30 seconds later it was Brandon's Jay Fehr who made it 1-1 and unfortunately for Brandon, it turned out to be the Wheat Kings only goal of the game. Just 3 minutes Foucault fired back to make it a 2-1 lead and it would eventually lead to a 3 goal barrage in just 3 minutes later in the period with goals from Bubnick, Beach and Shattock late in the first period.

The 2nd & 3rd periods saw no scoring but a lot of hits as the teams combined for 105 penalty minutes on 25 penalties. Including a couple of major penalties for cross checking, a number of scrums and a big time fight near the end of the first period between Cody Beach and Travis Hamonic as well.

Both goalies were very busy as combined 70 SOG, with Brandon out-shooting Calgary 40-030. This is a team that hasn't had a need to show a lot of desperation this season, with the Eastern Conference Final being the exception as Calgary won 4-in-a-row after Brandon won the opener in that series.

Even though the 2 teams will play again on Friday Night, this was an important night to feel each other and get that all important home ice advantage for Friday's Semifinal. Even though the Brandon Wheat Kings are the tournament hosts, the team will be seeing red if the Wheat Kings can't find a way to respond on Friday Night as a spot in the Memorial Cup Championship against Windsor on Sunday Evening is on the line.

In Brandon, Manitoba: The Calgary Hitmen offense exploded for five first period goals en route to a 5-1 victory over Brandon at Westman Place to finish the round-robin schedule at the MasterCard Memorial Cup with a 2-1 record and gaining home ice for Friday's Semifinal.

The Hitmen were the first to get on the board. Kris Foucault directed an innocent looking shot on net that slid between the pads of Jacob De Serres. Less then thirty seconds later, the Wheat Kings tied it up at one with Jay Fehr, who was left alone in the slot, one-timed a beautiful Aaron Lewadniuk pass behind goaltender Martin Jones.

Fouculat seemed to have De Serres number in the first period. He scored his 2nd goal of the game, and third of the tournament, on the Hitmen's third shot. Then, Cody Beach doubled the Hitmen's lead by registering his first goal of the MasterCard Memorial Cup at 13:47.

The Wheat Kings raised their level of play in the 2nd period. Although they failed to score, the shot total was a respectable 10-9 for the Hitmen.

Same story in the Final Frame, but the intensity level was sky high and the officials sent a number of players on both sides to the penalty box for roughing.

Martin Jones made 39 saves with the win, while De Serres took the loss despite making 25 saves.

All three Stars were Hitmen players. Kris Foucault was named the game's first star while teammates Jimmy Bubnick (2nd) and Tyler Shattock (3rd) was also honored.

The Brandon Wheat Kings will battle the Calgary Hitmen in the Semifinal of the 2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup on Rogers Sportsnet and RDS on Friday Night at 7:00 PM (CDT). The game also can be seen live on www.sportsnet.ca and on the NHL Network in the USA.